4 February 2026 Why employers and educators must work in partnership to make T-Levels work for young people from under-served communities

Jenni Anderson, CEO at the Talent Foundry, discusses the importance of employers and educators working together to ensure T-Level success.

A young person’s postcode still has a profound impact on the opportunities they have access to. Despite years of policy focused on skills and education reform, geography remains one of the strongest predictors of whether a young person will move into meaningful work and achieve social mobility.

T-Levels show promise to deliver high-quality, technical pathways, particularly in places where disadvantage is deeply entrenched, but employers and educators must work in genuine partnership to ensure long-term impact and that T-Levels are not just designed for today’s economy.

TTF was invited to discuss this at the recent All-Party Parliamentary Group for T-Levels, chaired by Dr Sam Rushworth MP.

Contributions from across the sector, including insights from the Social Mobility Commission’s latest State of the Nation report shared by Commissioner, Resham Kotecha, reinforced the crucial point that social mobility can no longer be focused on the ‘lucky few’ making it, despite all odds. It must, instead, be about ensuring that all young people, no matter their background, have access to real opportunities and sustainable routes into employment or education.

Nowhere is this challenge as visible as in former mining and industrial areas, which still suffer from the impacts of deindustrialisation. In Yorkshire, and particularly in Hull, the Social Mobility Commission places the local authority in the bottom 10 nationally for having Promising Prospects.

Individuals from lower working-class backgrounds are more likely to not be in education, employment or training (NEET) than those from higher professional backgrounds, a gap that has barely shifted in a decade. This is why employer-education partnerships are crucial and why offering alternative routes into sustainable local employment is key.

Building talent pipelines in East Riding

In East Riding, in the town of Driffield, we have been working in partnership with a major modular construction employer, Reds10, and a local school, to build a T-Level pipeline programme. The aim is to create awareness and build understanding of T-Levels as a sustainable education pathway leading directly to jobs in construction for young people, in an area with geographical and travel challenges for accessing education and employment.

Young people need early access to opportunities to make informed decisions about their futures. Our partnership is turning regional disparities into opportunities for students, securing pathways to meaningful employment.

For young people in post-industrial areas, access is critical. Traveling to larger cities like Hull or York is not always realistic, and long journeys increase costs and dropout rates.

By designing a local pipeline, from school, into T-Levels and onwards into local employment or apprenticeships, we can remove practical barriers to success.

The students who will go on to complete a new construction T-Level at Driffield School will have access to a guaranteed range of local career pathways, showing them that employers support their education and development and increasing the likelihood of sustained participation.

Increasing awareness of technical education pathways

T-Levels address a wider awareness gap related to technical education. With earnings premiums decreasing for graduates, this alternative route offers under-served young people the chance to gain practical skills and essential workplace experiences. Furthermore, in-person workshops offer students the chance to see what technical careers can involve.

Early exposure helps build confidence and ensure that practical routes are perceived as high-quality choices rather than second-best.

Benefits for young people

The benefits are tangible for young people from under-served areas.

T-Levels provide structured, high-quality work experience that students may otherwise struggle to access. Traditional work experience or unpaid internships can be out of reach for many, but T-Levels offer a credible boost to the CV, alongside practical skills, understanding of workplace behaviours and a clearer sense of belonging in professional environments. This pathway offers a route into skilled employment and higher education that is firmly aligned with employer needs.

Reds10 is one employer who can already demonstrate how this works in practice.

In their London T-Level placement programme, students are exposed to a range of roles across the construction sector, with several pathways available, as Paul Ruddick, Chairman at Reds10, explains:

T-Levels can highlight a variety of pathways to work. We can support students in traditional blue-collar roles such as joiners, steelworkers, plumbers or electricians. Plus, we can open doors to careers as designers, project managers or surveyors. This gives students more choices, allowing them to decide whether they want to take on an apprenticeship, go straight into work or apply to university.

Benefits for employers

Employers stand to benefit significantly from these partnerships.

T-Levels will allow businesses to identify talent early and to shape skills, behaviours and values in real-world settings.

Olivia Cook, Social Value & Engagement Lead at Reds10, says:

It’s essentially a 45-day interview. Through the industry placements, students are supported to use business processes and technology which mirror workplace realities in ways that cannot be recreated in the classroom.

Learning and development is embedded into our culture, giving junior staff who supervise or mentor T-Levels students the chance to develop their managerial skills during the placements.

Challenges and opportunities

Geographic inequality presents a large challenge to T-Level delivery. In some areas, a lack of infrastructure or employer density limits opportunity, but long-term commitment in areas where social mobility has entrenched disadvantage is crucial. Sustainable partnerships rooted geographically and responsive to local labour markets have the opportunity to create lasting change and shift patterns of inequality.

T-Levels represent an investment – in young people, in the future workforce and in regional economic prosperity. Our programme in Driffield and partnership with Reds10 means a guaranteed range of jobs and career pathways available locally to students who complete the T-Level at Driffield School.

Technical education offers the chance to address the significant rise in the number of NEET young people by providing exposure to the world of work before disengagement occurs.

Young people participating in T-Levels will grow in confidence and see that there is a place for them in the workplace, that local employers value their potential and that meaningful work is achievable without having to leave their local area. For those disengaged by traditional educational routes, T-Levels offer an opportunity to re-engage.

We must work together to tackle the challenge of reducing NEET numbers, focusing on addressing geographical disadvantage and building sustainable growth.

Paul adds:

This is a long-term investment and commitment. By combining our efforts and expertise we can provide practical routes into meaningful employment, and build partnerships based on genuine intention where need and opportunity are greatest.

Read more about our T-Level Pipeline programme.

Speak to our partnerships team about designing and delivering bespoke programmes in your region.